Two first-half goals gave Hibernian a well deserved 2-0 victory over Inverness Caley at Easter Road to cement their place in the SPL's top six. Colin Nish continued his terrific goalscoring form against Inverness, when he gave the Hibees a third-minute lead. Nish has now scored eight goals in the nine times he has played against Caley. The striker broke the deadlock when he latched on to Merouane Zemmama's pass to slide the ball beyond Michael Fraser after just three minutes. Steven Fletcher scored the second from 16 yards after some great build-up play involving Guillaume Beuzelin, Nish and Zemmama. The Highlanders began the second period desperate to claw themselves back into the game, and referee Kenny Clark awarded the visitors a free-kick 25 yards from goal after Graham Bayne was fouled. From the short set-piece, however, Marius Niculae's shot was deflected well wide.

The home side survived a goalmouth scramble in the 56th minute after Niculae wriggled clear of two men on the goalline to cause havoc. The bumpy surface also caused problems for Hibs goalkeeper Yves Ma-Kalambay, who needed two attempts to collect a tame Niculae shot that bounced his way. The Romanian had the Edinburgh side's rearguard in a panic again in the 64th minute, after getting past Chris Hogg to create room for a shot that slid just past the far post. Hibs substitute Filipe Morais was then denied in the 66th minute when Phil McGuire dived in to block his shot. Caley then had a decent shout for a penalty turned down by the referee when Rob Jones appeared to push substitute Markus Paatelainen, the Hibs manager's younger brother, in the back.

Dundee United dominated their clash with Falkirk, but failed to make their superiority count as they shared a drab 0-0 draw. United provided the flourish in a game affected by bad weather. Christian Kalvenes came closest to scoring when he rattled the crossbar with a header in the first half. Kalvenes met a lofted cross from Darren Dods with a fine looping effort, the ball carried over the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Robert Olejnik but smacked off the woodwork.

The Bairns could not find their usual passing rhythm, and Falkirk manager John Hughes brought on the creative force of Russell Latapy at half time, with the ineffective Scott Arfield making way. It was another veteran, Mark De Vries, who was to come close to scoring at the start of the second half. The tall striker ran straight through the middle of a stretched Falkirk defence and was about to unleash his shot at goal when Darren Barr slid in to put him off his stride. Latapy came close for the visitors and, with 10 minutes remaining, Olejnik saved a Lee Wilkie drive to leave United supporters disappointed.

There are three matches on the SPL card today, all involving the Scottish representatives in last week's European fixtures. Celtic travel the short distance to Love Street to play St Mirren, while Jimmy Calderwood's Aberdeen side swop the glamorous surroundings of a packed Allianz Arena, where they went out of the Uefa Cup 5-1 to Bayern Munich on Thursday night, for Rugby Park. Calderwood has asked his players to fight harder in order to tighten up a defence that has leaked 19 goals in their last five games, in a season that has seen Dons' performances riddled with rearguard slackness. 'The defensive side of our game has haunted us all season,' he said. 'It started at the first game against Dundee United at Tannadice and it has never really left us.' Kilmarnock, currently second from bottom, will be determined to pick up a much-needed victory to lift them up the league table. Rangers play a managerless Gretna today knowing that the importance of picking up wins this month has increased; the Ibrox side face a heavy schedule of eight games in 28 days during March, as a result of qualifying for the last 16 of the Uefa Cup with an away-goals victory over Panathinaikos.